7 items better off in storage when selling your home

Putting your home on the market? Help it to sell faster and for a higher price by storing these key items before the viewings begin.

Selling your home can be an emotional process and common sense can often get thrown out of the window. When you put your home on the market you need to think about how a prospective buyer will see your home and what elements will leave a lasting impression. This means foregoing any emotional attachment to spaces and items and creating a 'show home'.

How many of these items are currently in your home?

1. Old clothes

Buyers like to snoop - this means looking in cupboards and closets to see how much storage there is and how tidy the seller is. The problem is we all have items of clothing in our drawers that haven't been touched for at least a year and some probably never will be again. While a complete purge is unnecessary, for the duration your property is on the market you will probably not need over 50% of the clothes in your cupboard....don't even get us started on the fancy dress box!

2. Personal pictures and souvenirs

A few carefully positioned pictures or artwork are an important element to home staging so that the space feels welcoming. However what the buyer does not need to see is endless photos of your wedding day, your first born, or the sunset on that holiday in Morocco. Exactly the same applies to those 'tatty' souvenirs you cannot bring yourself to throw away; clear the floor, walls, shelves and table tops of these decorative items and replace with a strategically positioned pot plant and candle

3. The bread maker

The bread maker here is really an analogy for kitchen appliances. Don't get us wrong, at LOVESPACE we love a Magimix as much as the next person - but invariably these are machines whose use would be classified as 'infrequent'. The key here is to have an uninterrupted work surface with only a few items (e.g. a jar of wooden spoons, knife block) to give it some depth and perspective. Don't just stuff unused items into a cupboard though as buyers will no doubt look peer inside and and assume that kitchen lacks space.

A clear worktop feels spacious and offers an inviting place for cooking

4. The spare 'X'

If you refer to anything as your "spare X" then, by your own definition, you do not need it on a daily basis....stop hoarding!

5. Your tools

Depending on the type of household this can range from a 'man-drawer' to a 'man-cupboard' through to a shed. Whichever one it is, the fact remains that if there are still things that need fixing in your home then it probably shouldn't be on the market. Put those tools somewhere safe and instead build yourself a spacious, uncluttered home.

6. The inherited armchair

You know the one we mean, that scruffy armchair, maybe with a slightly dodgy reclining function which was once ugly yet comfortable but is now just ugly. You might still love it, but while viewings are going on, it's strongly recommended that you store bulky and unattractive furniture out of the sight of prospective buyers, as it will make it much easier for them to visualise their own belongings in the space.

7. Bikes

Perhaps the cardinal sin, but one which is hard to avoid especially in London where space is at a premium and cycling is increasingly popular, but so is bike theft. Many of us have learned the hard way that leaving a bike outside in London (however good the lock), is not a good idea. Equally, however, if the first sight that greats a prospective buyer is a bicycle-lined hallway then this does not leave a great first (and last) impression. Find somewhere else to keep them or learn to live without them for a month or so...and remember, LOVESPACE collects & stores bikes!

Don't let the first sight that greets the buyer on entrance be your beloved bicycle

Finally, remember to bear in mind that when you decide to sell your property, it goes from being a home to an asset. However hard it may be, you need to adjust your lifestyle to accommodate for this fact; it is only temporary and with LOVESPACE's storage service, you get all the items delivered to your new home – hassle free.

Storage for Home Sellers

LOVESPACE is the UK's first and largest by-the-box storage service. It's the ideal storage solution for people selling their homes:

• FREE collection from your door, as soon as tomorrow

• Store boxes, bikes, suitcases & furniture from just a few £s per month

• The easy way to make your home clutter-free for viewings

• Return delivery to any UK address - perfect for your house move

Get an instant storage quote here.